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Stephen P. Moschetta was recently featured on the John Williams Talk Radio Show airing on WCCO, a CBS affiliate in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to discuss the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster.

On January 13, 2012, the Costa Concordia, carrying over 4,000 passengers and crew, deviated from safe travel lanes and sank on a reef off the island of Giglios, Italy, after striking an underwater rock formation.

The Italian-flag cruise ship left the Civitavecchia port of Rome with 600 new passengers and had only been at sea for a few hours when it ran aground.  According to reports, the crew had not conducted the so-called “muster drill” for the passengers who just boarded.  Unfortunately, the safety drill was not scheduled until the following day.

The ship approached the island of Gilgio from the south but sailed too close to the coastline and struck a rocky reef a few hundred yards out.  Passengers report that the ship violently listed (tilted) and eventually capsized.

The master of the ship, Captain Francesco Schettino, is under house arrest and is under investigation for crimes including manslaughter.  The owner of the Concordia, Costa Cruises, a Carnival Cruise Lines company, has placed all blame on the captain claiming “human error” was the cause of the disaster.  However, it is difficult to imagine that Costa Cruises was unaware that the Concordia was so close to land given today’s technology.  Also, this disaster demonstrates the importance of crew training and safety policies.  For cruise ships sailing from ports in the United States, “muster drills” are the first order of business once all passengers are on board.  Cruise ship operators must promulgate policies and procedures to ensure the safety of all passengers while on the ship, and particularly during evacuations to life boats.

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Photograph by WTAE, Pittsburgh

In the early morning hours of April 27, 2011, four (4) barges broke free from the Carl L. Johnson, which is operated by Consol Energy.  U.S. Coast Guard officials said the barges broke loose when a wire snapped as crewmembers were trying to face up (connect) to a barge.  While it has not been reported, in my opinion, the high water conditions likely played a role in the barge breakaway.

In the early morning hours of April 27, 2011, four (4) barges broke free from the Carl L. Johnson, which is operated by Consol Energy.  U.S. Coast Guard officials said the barges broke loose when a wire snapped as crewmembers were trying to face up (connect) to a barge.  While it has not been reported, in my opinion, the high water conditions likely played a role in the barge breakaway.
One barge owned by Marathon Ashland was carrying coal tar light oil which contains benzene, a hazardous and highly flammable substance, while the other three barges were jumbo open-hopper barges carrying non-flammable loads.  The chemical barge struck a railroad bridge near Neville  Island and became lodged there along with another barge.  A third barge carrying steel coils sank.  The fourth barge carrying coal slag continued down the Ohio  River until it struck the Emsworth Lock and Dam.
Fortunately, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Pittsburgh was able to safely retrieve the chemical barge, with the help of several towing companies and their deckhands.  Given the highly flammable and toxic elements in the chemical barge, the Fleming Park Bridge that connects Neville Island to Stowe  Township was closed.  Nearby elementary and middle school students were dismissed early as a precaution in case of an explosion during the barge removal.  Specifically, officials were concerned that if the benzene ignited during the removal, the fumes –which contain carcinogens known to cause cancer and other respiratory problems – could affect the school populations.
During the retrieval of the chemical barge, crews of several towboats were clearly concerned about a potential explosion since they tied four other barges together end-on-end so they could reach the benzene barge and keep the motor vessels (known as towboats), which contain diesel fuel, as far as possible from the chemical barge.  Then, with a tow boat stationed at the other end of the barges, the vessel and her crew guided the benzene barge to safety.  The other two barges were rescued as well.  However, before the Coast Guard can arrange for a salvage company to safely lift the sunken barge from the river bottom, the stage of the river must drop considerably from flood stage.
Those of us who are involved in maritime litigation on the inland waters of the United States know that high water or “flood” conditions often produce barge break-away situations that can sometime result in damage to property along the rivers aside from the damage to the runaway barge.  Other times, deckhands or pleasure boaters are injured or killed.
The crewmembers aboard the Carl L. Johnson and other towboats involved in the rescue effort are called “deckhands.”  A deckhand is an ordinary seaman who assists in transiting barges or other vessels along the navigable waters of the United States.  The City of Pittsburgh and surrounding communities have considerable commercial maritime traffic aside from recreational boats (pleasure craft, jet-skis) given the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers converge at the “the point” to create the Ohio River. The Port of Pittsburgh was recently ranked the fifth busiest inland port in the U.S. based on tonnage that moves through our area.  Products such as coal, fuel, sand, gravel and steel, are moved in and out of southwestern Pennsylvania by towboats crewed by deckhands.  The rivers provide a relatively inexpensively mode of transportation for these cargos.

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News: Two Missing After Boat-Barge Collide (NECN)

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the collision of a Ride the Ducks tour boat and a city-owned barge that injured eight people and killed two.  The incident occurred on the Delaware River near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 8, 2010.

According to the Associated Press, The Caribbean Sea, a tugboat owned by K-Sea Transportation Partners of East Brunswick, New Jersey, was directing the barge downriver on Wednesday afternoon.  At the same time, the Duck boat, carrying thirty-five passengers and two crew members, sat idly in the water, due to an engine fire, for about ten minutes before the collision.  All but two passengers survived.  The Coast Guard and NTSB are investigating the crews’ conduct before and after the collision, particularly, the Duck boat’s inspection history and the apparent mechanical problems.

CNN News Wire reported that searchers located the sunken boat about fifty feet below the river’s surface.  The investigation will continue in order to discover the reason for this incident; various causes should be explored including the failure of Ride the Ducks tours to provide a seaworthy vessel and the negligence of the K-Sea tugboat/barge operators.

. . . Various Navigational “Rules of the Road” Implicated.

Although the NTSB and media sources have focused primarily on the seaworthiness of the Duck boat (citing possible lack of maintenance, etc.), rare is the case that two vessels collide and there is not a reasonable argument that both vessels were at fault.

Assuming the Duck boat was disabled and adrift for about ten minutes prior to the collision (as reported), it seems likely that the barge/tugboat, operated by K-Sea Transportation Partners, violated several Inland Rules of Navigation intended to prevent collisions, including, among others:

• Rule 5 – failure to post/maintain a proper lookout (33 U.S.C. §2005)
• Rule 7 – failure to use all means available to avoid the risk of collision (33 U.S.C. §2007)
• Rule 8 – failure to take positive action to avoid collision, such as altering course and speed  (33 U.S.C. §2008)
• Rule 6 – failure to proceed at a safe speed (33 U.S.C. §2006)
• Rule 2 – failure to use good seamanship (33 U.S.C. §2002)
• Rule 18 – failure to Rule 1 – failure to comply with the above Rules of the Road (33 U.S.C. §2001)

The U.S. Coast Guard will be conducting an extensive investigation, which I assume will include a visibility analysis, to determine how the pilot/operator of the K-Sea Towing tugboat and barge (“The Resource”), failed to avoid colliding with the disabled Duck boat.

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